World Youth 2019 Round 6: Just 14 and already a professional - Aydin Suleymanli

by Sagar Shah - 07/10/2019

There are many strong players all across the world who are strong at the age of 14. But how many of them have the courage to say in a public interview that they are professionals? Meet Aydin Suleymanli, the 14-year-old from Azerbaijan, who is the leader in the under-14 open section. He played an excellent endgame to grind out a win from a drawish position against Aditya Samant (2334) of India. In this report we get to know more about this youngster. The other sole leaders after round six in the event are Leya Garifullina (5.5/6) in the under-16 girls and Rudik Makarian (5.5/6) in the under-16 open. We bring you a detailed report with pictures and analysis from Mumbai.

Meet Aydin Suleymanli - the future of Azerbaijan chess

Aydin Suleymanli is the sole leader in the under-14 open section after he beat Aditya Samant with the black pieces in round 6 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

After the game we caught up with Aydin and asked him - Do you go to school? "I do not go to school so much. Chess is my profession. And it's more important for me. When quizzed about his work routine, he replied, "I practice chess all day!" So you want to become a professional chess player, was my question. With a smile on his face he said. "I think I am already a professional chess player. I want to be an elite grandmaster." The confidence, simplicity and self belief with which he said these lines was quite motivating. I am sure that we are going to hear Aydin's name for many years to come!

What does Aydin have to think about his country mate's Radjabov's victory at the World Cup? "All of us are very happy that someone from our country won the World Cup. I congratulate him and hope he becomes the World Champion." But Radjabov isn't keen on playing Candidates. "I think he will play", said Aydin with a sly smile.

Aydin Suleymanli's interview by IM Sagar Shah

Final moments of Suleymanli's win over Samant

Aydin Suleymanli wins the best game of the day award for his win over Aditya Samant

Standings after round 6 in under-14 open

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	3	IM	Suleymanli Aydin	AZE	2426	5,5	0,0	21,5	24,0	3	5
2	55		Abinandhan R	IND	1830	5,0	0,0	20,5	24,0	3	4
3	12	FM	Srihari L R	IND	2283	5,0	0,0	20,5	23,0	3	5
4	5	FM	Pranav Anand	IND	2351	5,0	0,0	19,5	22,5	3	4
5	1	FM	Sreeshwan Maralakshikari	IND	2449	5,0	0,0	19,5	22,0	3	5
6	20	CM	Luczak Filip	POL	2136	4,5	0,0	21,0	24,0	3	4
7	8	FM	Chyzy Jakub	POL	2327	4,5	0,0	19,0	22,0	3	4
	10		Pranav V	IND	2308	4,5	0,0	19,0	22,0	3	4
9	13	FM	Morgunov Marc	AUT	2280	4,5	0,0	19,0	21,5	3	3
10	6		Samant Aditya S	IND	2334	4,5	0,0	18,5	20,0	3	4

Girls are better fighters?!

After around three hours of play, this was the scene at the playing venue:

The top tables in the open (boys) under-18 section had all their games completed! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Top four boards in the girls under-18 section were all fighting hard! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Girls truly play uncompromising chess and this is true right from youngsters to the World Championship level! At the orld Youth Championships currently in progress in Mumbai, the girls under-18 section has three leaders on 5.0/6 and the girls under-14 has five leaders with 5.0/6.

Defending champion and top seed Polina Shuvalova is back on the top after a couple of draws | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Anna Afonsieva (left) got the better of Annmarie Muetsch | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Standings after round 6 in girls under-18

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1	WIM	Shuvalova Polina	w	RUS	2412	5,0	0,0	19,5	22,0	3	4
2	5	WIM	Sliwicka Alicja	w	POL	2307	5,0	0,0	17,5	20,5	2	4
3	4	WFM	Afonasieva Anna	w	RUS	2312	5,0	0,0	17,0	19,5	3	5
4	14	WIM	Cervantes Landeiro Thalia	w	USA	2176	4,5	0,0	21,0	24,5	3	3
5	3	FM	Schulze Lara	w	GER	2327	4,5	0,0	19,5	22,5	3	3
6	6	WIM	Vantika Agrawal	w	IND	2283	4,5	0,0	18,5	21,5	3	3
7	8	WFM	Radeva Viktoria	w	BUL	2277	4,0	0,0	20,5	22,5	3	3
8	18	WFM	Kucharska Honorata	w	POL	2114	4,0	0,0	20,0	22,0	3	3
9	21	WFM	Makhija Aashna	w	IND	2084	4,0	0,0	20,0	22,0	3	2
10	7	WGM	Obolentseva Alexandra	w	RUS	2282	4,0	0,0	19,5	22,5	3	2

The top board clash in open under-18 between Aryan Gholami and Praggnanandhaa ended in a draw. They both maintain their leads with 5.0/6 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The two Indian GMs at the event - P. Iniyan and R. Praggnanandhaa | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Standings after round 6 in open under-18

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	2	GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2567	5,0	0,5	21,0	23,5	3	4
2	3	IM	Gholami Aryan	IRI	2554	5,0	0,5	21,0	23,5	2	4
3	5	GM	Iniyan P	IND	2509	4,5	0,0	21,0	24,5	3	3
4	12	IM	Buckels Valentin	GER	2442	4,5	0,0	20,5	23,0	3	3
5	1	GM	Sargsyan Shant	ARM	2580	4,5	0,0	20,0	23,5	3	3
6	16	IM	Aditya Mittal	IND	2430	4,5	0,0	19,5	22,5	3	3
7	14	IM	Zarubitski Viachaslau	BLR	2435	4,5	0,0	19,0	22,0	3	4
8	13	IM	Petriashvili Nikoloz	GEO	2441	4,5	0,0	18,5	20,5	3	4
9	25	FM	Chylewski Patryk	POL	2348	4,5	0,0	18,0	20,5	3	4
10	15	IM	Mitrabha Guha	IND	2434	4,5	0,0	17,0	19,5	3	3

Standings after round 6 in girls under-16

Leya Garifullina is playing strong chess and is clearly the favourite to win the title!

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	1	WCM	Garifullina Leya	w	RUS	2330	5,5	0,0	20,5	23,0	3	5
2	4	WFM	Nurgali Nazerke	w	KAZ	2194	5,0	0,5	22,0	24,0	3	4
3	7	WFM	Mahdian Anousha	w	IRI	2103	5,0	0,5	20,0	22,5	3	4
4	14	WFM	Bommini Mounika Akshaya	w	IND	2017	4,5	0,0	22,0	24,0	3	4
5	2	WFM	Beydullayeva Govhar	w	AZE	2289	4,5	0,0	20,5	24,0	3	4
6	11	WFM	Salonika Saina	w	IND	2051	4,5	0,0	19,0	20,5	3	4
7	9	WFM	Ciolacu Alessia-Mihaela	w	ROU	2095	4,5	0,0	16,5	19,0	3	3
8	33		Mehendi Sil	w	IND	1812	4,5	0,0	16,5	17,0	2	4
9	5	WFM	Bulatova Kamaliya	w	RUS	2181	4,5	0,0	15,0	17,5	3	3
10	36	WFM	Noshin Anjum	w	BAN	1793	4,0	0,0	19,0	21,0	3	4

The sole leader in under-16 open section is Rudik Makarian (left). He beat the strong Iranian player Arash Daghli | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Standings after round 6 in under-16 open

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	7	IM	Makarian Rudik	RUS	2386	5,5	0,0	20,0	23,0	3	5
2	1	IM	Niemann Hans Moke	USA	2439	5,0	0,0	20,5	23,5	3	4
3	8	CM	Aronyak Ghosh	IND	2380	5,0	0,0	19,5	22,0	3	4
4	5	FM	Daghli Arash	IRI	2387	4,5	0,0	22,5	25,0	3	4
5	17	FM	Moksh Amit Doshi	IND	2328	4,5	0,0	19,5	22,0	3	4
6	18	FM	Stork Oliver	GER	2314	4,5	0,0	19,5	21,0	3	4
7	13	IM	Pogosyan Stefan	RUS	2364	4,5	0,0	19,0	21,0	3	3
8	20	CM	Kushagra Mohan	IND	2309	4,5	0,0	18,5	21,5	3	3
9	23		Bilych Olexiy	UKR	2281	4,5	0,0	17,5	19,0	3	4
10	27	FM	Hilwerda Jonas	NED	2229	4,5	0,0	16,0	18,5	2	4

The game between overnight leaders in under-14 girls section Rakshitta Ravi and Eline Roebers ended in a draw | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nasyrova Ekaterina (right) won her game and is now one of the leaders | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Dhyana Patel (right) is also on 5.0/6 | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Standings after round 6 in girls under-14

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	TB5
1	5		Roebers Eline	w	NED	2083	5,0	0,0	22,0	25,0	3	4
2	4	WFM	Nasyrova Ekaterina	w	RUS	2137	5,0	0,0	21,0	24,5	3	4
3	9	WFM	Dhyana Patel	w	IND	1995	5,0	0,0	21,0	22,5	3	4
4	2	WIM	Rakshitta Ravi	w	IND	2310	5,0	0,0	20,0	22,0	3	4
5	16	WCM	Mungunzul Bat-Erdene	w	MGL	1912	5,0	0,0	16,5	18,5	3	4
6	21	WCM	Ince Safiye Oyku	w	TUR	1840	4,5	0,0	20,0	21,5	2	4
7	1	WIM	Divya Deshmukh	w	IND	2358	4,5	0,0	19,0	21,5	3	4
	11		Hakobyan Astghik	w	ARM	1978	4,5	0,0	19,0	21,5	3	4
9	18		Sulyok Eszter	w	HUN	1893	4,5	0,0	19,0	20,5	3	4
10	12		Wikar Martyna	w	POL	1969	4,0	0,0	21,0	23,5	3	2

"Chess is war on the board. The object is to crush your opponent's mind." These were the words of Bobby Fischer. However, for the players at the World Youth Championships, their opponents are a way to make new friends! Many of them come to the board with a gift that they have brought from their motherland, so that their opponent's can take back some memories of having played against them! Such a wonderful gesture - have a look:

A friendship keychain! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

A present from Latvia to the opponent! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

One South African gave her opponent a currency and a band, while another... | Photo: Amruta Mokal

...presented a keychain! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

A turkish wrist band! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Food and nutrition tips for chess players

As a chess player, what do you take with you to the board?

Smiley shaped chocolates? | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Normal chocolates? | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Or nuts?! | Photo: Amruta Mokal

I guess this is a question that every chess player has. It doesn't matter if he is a World Champion or just another serious tournament player. What are the right food habits is a pertinent question. In order to answer this and more questions related to food and nutrition, the World Youth Championship 2019 organizing committee in association with ChessBase India invited the famous nutritionist and sports scientist from Mumbai Krushmi Chheda.

Krushmi Chheda is a sports scientist, nutritionist and a fitness expert. She was invited at the World Youth Championships 2019 to speak about the importance of nutrition and food for chess players. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Nearly 100 people attended the workshop in which Krushmi spoke about how good food habits and right food intake can help to enhance the performance of a sports player. | Photo: Amruta Mokal

The entire talk by Krushmi as well as the Q&A session has been recorded by ChessBase India for you to learn from the expert on this important subject. These talks are a part of the World Youth Chess Championships to spread awareness about fitness, nutrition, psychology, mind training which has been hitherto ignored by chess community. For all those who would like to get in touch with Krushmi can do so at info@krushmichheda.com/ +917045663991

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